Greetings friends! In addition to marveling at the Super Moon, hope you’re having a Super Summer. Heading into our Labor Day weekend Campout, we’ll be looking forward to seeing friends we might have missed at Fiddle Camp, Centralia, Fiddle Tunes and other events. We’ve continued to jam every Tuesday 1- 4 pm this summer. 1st and 3rd Tuesday in Silverdale Mall next to Dick’s Sporting Goods and 2nd and 4th (and any 5th) Tuesdays in Belfair at the Barn through the end of September. In the covered barn you need to dress appropriately for any temperature variation. The Barn is located at 600 NE Roessel Rd, Belfai.r at the Salmon Center, a nice place for a hike at the end of the Hood Canal. Stop by.
I suspect we’ll be learning new tunes that folks have picked up this summer. Always fun to hear and learn new tunes although when we get around to those older tunes we played way back when, it is sometimes like returning to visit an old friend. Enjoyable. I was out of town visiting family for Fiddle Camp, but I hear that the new location went well. We sponsored 8 youth with our scholarship fund. Looking forward to next year already. Kay is doing a great job of reaching out to local schools and finding youth interested in fiddle tunes.
We always enjoy playing at Farmers Markets and watching the folks stroll by and sometimes stop with a few in time steps to the music, especially the little ones. Olalla Americana Festival turned out nice and cool and we’ve encouraged some passers by to come join us. Keep trying to grow our numbers!
Playouts:
- August 17- Olalla Americana Festival booth for WOTFA
- August 22- Bremerton Farmers Market
- September 6- Canterbury
- September 7-Port Orchard Farmers Market
- September 19-Liberty Shores
- September 26-Retsil Veterans Home
- September 28-September 28- Poulsbo Farmers Market
- October 9- Willows
- October 23-Country Meadows
- October 30-Crista Shores
- Contacts for scheduling or attending playouts: Sharon Habener habs_@msn.com or Kay McCarthy kaycmccarthy@gmail.com
Hope you get to join us at our Campout August 30-Sept 1. We will have a poker jam, potluck with hamburgers on Saturday night and play for the square dancers. Gospel hour Sunday morning after breakfast. Did I mention jamming in the morning, afternoon and late at night? Always a good time. Check out our Fecebook page https://www.facebook.com/WOTFA5/
We resume our monthly business meetings in September at the Kitsap Square Dance Assocoation (KSDA) at 6800 W Belfair Valley Rd the third Saturday of every month from 11-3. We’ve started having a music stand free hour from 11- noon, take a quick finger food break while we conduct business and then resume jamming until 3 pm (written music allowed). Playing without written music has been good practice for listening and getting brave enough to find those muscle memory pathways that give confidence and fun in experimenting in a safe space. Do drop in!
Our next business meeting at KSDA, October 19th, will be a workshop of Irish tunes. Free to WOTFA members. Tania Opland and Mike Freeman have agreed to provide some fun for us. Tania has joined a couple of our jams and we enjoy her skill and look forward to the workshop. Check them out https://opland-freeman.com/
Keep playing and enjoying each other-it’s a gift! Next time.
District 5 Chair: Kent McCabe dkmccabe0723@gmail.com 360-830-0317
Respectfully submitted: Reporter, Sandi O’Kelly s_okelly@msn.com